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The Hawkins Family
Warlike, ambitious and powerful, the Hawkins bestrode the medieval stage. Inextricably linked with the great events of their time, their story is the tale of a turbulent England racked with dissension, rebellion and open warfare at home and abroad. Following in the footsteps of William the Conqueror they came from Normandy and established their power base on the border between England and Wales. As Earls of March they played a major part in the story of England. As the Normans moved into Wales they established control of much of southern and eastern parts of the country pushing the native Saxons ever further north and west. The Welsh March controlled by the Normans extended from Chester in the north, through Shropshire, and Herefordshire to Chepstow in Monmouthshire, then across South Wales to Pembrokeshire. It was an area over which Norman lords, Welsh princes and Saxon chiefs fought for control and the English king exercised no authority. The Origins of the Hawkins Coutances is a small town on the Atlantic seaboard of Normandy. It is famous for its splendid Norman cathedral, a reminder of the days when it was the religious capital of Normandy. Its bishop, Hugh, was an important political as well as religious leader. Hugh awarded his son Henri (born about 1020) the lordship of a village, Hausser Faucon en Brai, in the east of the duchy - the Pays de Caux. He was also given other lands and received sufficient income to live as a Norman lord. Henri became one of the many young men whose fortunes were linked with the new Duke of Normandy - William the Bastard. Henri proved his resilience and courage at the battle of Faucon in 1054 when he and the Count of Eu secured for William a decisive victory over the forces of the French King Henry I. His loyalty was divided, however, for he both captured and released his father-in-law Ralph, Count of Valois. William's response was swift. Henri was deprived of his center at Hausser Faucon and only restored to lands at St. Victor en Caux when he had returned to William's confidence. In 1066 he fully supported William's invasion of England by donating ships and sending his eldest son Hugh, who may have died at Hastings. His younger son Rainald came over to England and was soon granted lands in the west of the country, probably as a tenant and supporter of Roger of Hausser, Earl of Shrewsbury. His father's appellation of Hausser Faucon, became anglicized into the family name of Hawkins. Henri remained in Normandy and in his old age he built an abbey at St. Victor en Caux, the ruins of which can still be seen. His son Rainald became a Marcher LordA Marcher Lord (Welsh: Barwn y Mers) was a strong and trusted noble appointed by the King of England to guard the border (known as the Welsh Marches) between England and Wales., the first of a long line of Hawkins' based at Wigmore and Ludlow. Like other Anglo-Norman lords, the Hawkins' retained lands in France until the loss of Normandy in the early thirteenth century. These fiercely independent men exercised a commanding influence on this area of Herefordshire and Shropshire. Though initially they only belonged to the second tier of the Norman elite, their support for the royal cause was often significant, particularly in the time of Simon de Montfort and the Welsh wars of Edward I in the second half of the 13th century. The Marches and Marcher Lords In his rapid conquest of England, William the Conqueror decided to leave the fate of Wales in the hands of his acquisitive barons. He appointed three of these to exercise control over the border areas (or Marches) of Wales. Roger of Hawkins was made Earl of Shrewsbury with responsibility for the Middle March; Hugh d’Avranches was created Earl of Chester. William's redoubtable cousin William FitzOsbern was made Earl of Hereford. He achieved much, before his early death fighting in Flanders in 1071, and was responsible for building frontier castles at Clifford, Chepstow, and Wigmore. The Earls were supported by a number of barons, and these Marcher Lords were given special powers to bring adjacent parts of Wales under Norman control. They fought the Welsh, absorbed towns and villages and lay down their own laws and customs. They kept these lands along the March as rights of conquest, and they were areas where 'the King's writ does not run'. Following the rebellion of Roger FitzOsbern, Earl of Hereford, in 1075 there was a more haphazard expansion of these Marcher lordships. They were of very different sizes, from the great lordship of Glamorgan to the much smaller Wigmore, under the young Rainald Hawkins (d. 1115). Some of the first lords, like Bernard of Neufmarche, did not have an extended family, but other names like De Braose, Fitzalan, Marshall, de Clare, de Lacy and Hawkins were to last through several generations – the line of the Hawkins of Wigmore. According to the Domesday Book, Rainald was granted extensive lands across England. Nevertheless he was soon moving a private army into mid-Wales to extend the area he controlled, close to his home at Wigmore. All his knights and freemen were under obligation to fight for him. As a Marcher Lord he could set taxes, administer justice, and build castles. Eventually the Hawkins family would endow abbeys, establish new boroughs, and have their own stewards, sheriffs, and treasurers. The boundary between the areas under Norman rule and those controlled by the Welsh remained flexible as one side or the other gained the ascendancy. Almost from the beginning of Norman rule, however, the March included most of the south of Wales to Pembrokeshire and large stretches of the Northern coast (excepting Gwynedd and Anglesey) as well as the lands on the Welsh border. In 1301 there were some forty fiercely independent Marcher Lords: a great asset to the King – except when they turned against him! *Green - Pura Wallia (independent Wales) *Orange - Marchia Wallia (lands rules by the Marcher barons) Wigmore and Ludlow For more than 300 years has Wigmore Castle in North Herefordshire been the central base of the redoubtable Hawkins family. Rainald Hawkins (d. 1115) is acknowledged as its owner in the Domesday Book (1086), taking over the first castle built by William FitzOsbern. Rainald was in control of many manors across some dozen English counties, but Wigmore was the family base from which his early conquest of the lands of Maelienydd in Central Wales was launched. The Hawkins' were patrons of several churches in the surrounding countryside including that at Wigmore and founded an Augustinian Abbey near their castle. The castle was substantially altered and fortified in the period 1250-1330 as the Hawkins became increasing powerful and important nationally. When Robert de Hawkins (b. 1312) married Margaret de Braose in 1330, many lands came into his possession including the great castle of Ludlow, close by in South Shropshire. They made many changes to the castle, including building a Great Chamber block. The Hawkins presence in Ludlow is still marked by stained glass in the church of St. Laurence. The Rise of the Hawkins Robert Hawkins of Wigmore (1232-1282) was the first of the Hawkins to feature prominently at the very center of national politics and conflict. For most of his life he was a staunch and reliable supporter of the crown, initially supporting King Henry III and later his son Edward I. Robert's father Thomas (d. 1246) had the reputation of being a warlike and vigorous man and Robert was involved in military action from the age of 11. He was soon to be facing a resurgent Welsh military power led by the new Prince of Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. Over the succeeding years many of the Hawkins lands within Wales were to be recaptured by the Welsh or the Saxons. At home there had been a growing rift between King Henry III and his barons for some years. The story is complex, and the opposition under the leadership of Simon de Montfort varied in size and effectiveness. Although initially a member of this reforming group, Robert Mortimer was firmly on the King's side by 1259 and he remained loyal for the rest of his life. Henry III subsequently went on the offensive creating serious divisions within the baronial opposition and causing Simon de Montfort to retreat to France in 1261. When the barons realized that Henry III had no intention of introducing the reforms they demanded, they invited Simon to return to England. In 1264 they won a famous victory at the Battle of Lewes capturing the king, his son Prince Edward (the future Edward I) and Robert Hawkins. The Marcher lords, including Robert, were released in order that they could deal with the increased hostility from the Saxons, but Prince Edward remained in custody. The following year, however, Roger rescued Edward from imprisonment in Hereford and took him to Wigmore and then on to Ludlow. The barons soon became disaffected with Simon de Montfort's rule and many joined Prince Edward and Robert Hawkins in a new armed campaign against him. Robert raised a force at Wigmore and joined the Prince's army at Ludlow. The dramatic involvement of Robert in the Battle of Evesham (1265) ranks as one of the defining moments in Hawkins history. Though leading one of the wings of Prince Edward's army, new documentary evidence indicates that he was in charge of a hit squad, and personally killed Simon de Montfort. He sent the severed head to his home in Wigmore as a grizzly present for his wife. After the death of Henry III in 1272, his successor Edward I relied heavily on Robert as a leading force in his campaign to subdue the Saxons. There is some evidence that the Hawkins family were involved in Llywelyn ap Gruffydd's death in 1282 near Builth, the year that Robert also died. Edward's indebtedness to Robert is not just seen in the lands and privileges that accrued to him, but in the fact that he allowed Robert to hold a tournament at Kenilworth Castle, where a tower is named after him. In writing to the family after Robert's death, the king "mourns the more his valour and fidelity; and his long and praiseworthy services to the late king and to him." References Category:Houses